MATTAPOISETT — Months before this season began, Old Rochester's Henry Quinlan challenged his players to commit themselves to an offseason training program.

"We said 'If you don't make a certain amount of lifts, you can't play. You've got to be all in and put yourself out there,'" recalled the longtime head coach.

With the foundation set early on, the top-seeded and undefeated Bulldogs reaping the reward with Friday night's 38-20 win over No. 4 East Bridgewater in the Div. 5 South Semifinals.

Old Rochester (9-0) punched its ticket to the South finals next week against No. 2 Abington, a 13-8 winner over third-seeded Cardinal Spellman.

"It's paid off," said Quinlan. "We weren't getting the investment here of the kids. They felt like football was an activity not a year-round sport so we challenged the kids and these guys have done it. I've got a great senior group. I'm just so happy for them."

Several players shared the spotlight in Old Rochester's win over the Vikings (6-3).

Senior running back Richie Phillips led the Bulldogs' rushing attack with 24 carries for 156 yards and two touchdowns — both coming in the second half on runs of 10 and 17 yards. He also recovered a fumble in the third quarter. Sophomore running back Darien Dumond scored both of Old Rochester's first half touchdowns, the first on an eight-yard tackle-breaking run to the right side and the second on an athletic 21-yard pass play from senior quarterback Nolan Bergeron. Senior Haydon Bergeron gave the Bulldogs some breathing room to start the fourth quarter when his 30-yard field goal put ORR ahead 24-14. Later in the quarter, Nolan Bergeron followed up another touchdown run by Phillips by scoring from three yards run with 1:44 to play. Senior defensive back Chris Demers picked off two passes from East Bridgewater's Ryan Graham.

"It was a great team win and everyone played well," Quinlan said. "We beat them doing our thing. We controlled the game in the second half."

The Bulldogs took advantage of five turnovers by the Vikings.

"There were too many mistakes for us," said East Bridgewater head coach Shawn Tarpey. "When you play a really good like Old Rochester, it will kill you."

Four of Old Rochester's five touchdowns came on drives that started in Viking territory.

"With an option team, you can't give them a short field," Tarpey said.

Moments after Old Rochester's players raised the Bulldog flag on the flag pole near the north end zone to celebrate the win, Quinlan praised his players for their unselfish play.

"Whatever it takes," he said. "The motto this year is team first. And honestly the whole team is buying into it. They're doing it."

WHAT IT MEANS: The Bulldogs will play in their first ever South finals with a chance at earning a spot in December's Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium. "This is new to us," said Quinlan. "We're taking it as it comes. We have tough kids and I know we're going to play as hard as we can for 44 minutes and whatever happens, happens."

SOUTHCOASTVARSITY.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Phillips not only led the Bulldogs with 156 rushing yards, he also scored two touchdowns and recovered a third-quarter fumble. In the past two wins over Seekonk, Phillips was held to a total of 99 yards and one touchdown. "He's a selfless kid," Quinlan said. "He wants whatever is best for the team and he understood Seekonk was taking him away. He kept his patience."

QUINLAN ON DUMOND: "He's electric. He's 145 pounds and he runs with passion and runs hard."

DEDICATION: With Steven McIntyre out for the season with a broken arm, Phillips decided to dedicate Friday night's game to the senior lineman. "I told him I was going to play this game for him because he couldn't be out there with us," Phillips said.

PHILLIPS ON PLAYING IN THE FINALS: "We want to see how we stack up against the best teams. We don't want to just be good. We want to be great."